We are tickled to be launching our EIGHTH great season on Thursday February 21st. We’d love it if you could join us!

Thursday February 21st at 7:00pmCinecycle
129 Spadina Avenue (slightly down the alley)

BROTHERHOOD

Dir: Meryam Joobeur
Canada/Tunisia/Qatar/Sweden – 2018

Mohamed is a hardened shepherd living in rural Tunisia with his wife and two sons. He is deeply shaken when his eldest son Malik returns home after a long journey with a mysterious new wife. Tension between father and son rises over three days until reaching a breaking point.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival

Duration: 25:00

ALL-INCLUSIVE

Dir: Corina Schweingruber Ilic
Switzerland – 2018

Under the spell of mass entertainment on the high seas.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival

Duration: 10:00

CAROLINE

Dirs: Celine Held and Logan George
USA – 2018

When plans fall through, a six-year-old is faced with a big responsibility on a hot Texas day.

Best North American Short – Palm Springs International ShortFest

Official Selection – Cannes Film Festival

Duration: 12:00

BENEATH THE INK

Dir: Cy Dodson
USA – 2018

As society’s belief systems are seemingly changing, or even reverting in time, one Ohio artist is challenging his community by saying, “bring me your mistakes.” Inspired by recent events, Billy Joe White and his Red Rose Tattoo Studio are promoting one simple concept… ERASE THE HATE. Beneath the Ink is a timely look at hate and racism in the western foothills of this Appalachian region that reveals heartfelt stories of change and redemption.

Fast Horse follows the return of the Blackfoot bareback horse racing tradition in a new form: Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison RedCrow struggles to build a team with second-hand races and a new jockey, Cody BigTobacco, to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.

Special Jury Award for Direction – Sundance Film Festival

Duration: 14:00

FATHERLAND

Dir: George Sikharulidze
Georgia – 2018

.In 2016, on the 63rd anniversary of his death, Stalin’s worshippers gather outside his birthplace in Georgia to demand his canonization as a saint … when something uncanny materializes.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Duration: 15:00

Help us kick off our 2019 season! The Facebook RSVP is free, and door tickets are just $10 (a 20% price reduction from previous years). And why not bring a friend? 🙂

We showed Arnaud Brisebois’ first short film Trotteur way back in April 2012, so it’s a pleasure to welcome him back in 2017. Anime follows two young people through a post-apocalyptic cityscape as they scavenge for food and shelter. Brisebois’ sense of visual style is stronger than ever.

Duration: 12:00

THE COMMITTEE

Dirs: Gunhild Enger and Jenni Toivoniemi
Norway/Finland/Sweden – 2016

Three delegates from Sweden, Norway and Finland are gathered in Lapland to decide on an art piece, which is to be placed where the three borders meet geographically. But the committee is in for a surprise.

Official Selection – Locarno Film Festival

Duration: 14:00

SECOND TO NONE – AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER

Dir: Vincent Gallagher
Ireland – 2016

Frederick Butterfield is tired of always being runner up. When he becomes the world’s second oldest person, he hatches a plan to claim first place.

Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival

Duration: 7:00

TEN METER TOWER (HOPPTORNET)

Dirs: Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck
Sweden – 2016

A ten meter diving tower. People who have never been up there before have to choose whether to jump or climb down.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Duration: 16:00

AUDIBLE STATIC

Dir: Sai Selvarajan
USA – 2016

Thaddeus is a teenager in love. Love comes with panic. Silence. Racing thoughts, but no words. Just, audible static. In the last days of analogue, Thaddeus finds a way to cheat the system.

Duration: 11:00

3-WAY (NOT CALLING)

Dir: Molly McGlynn
Canada – 2016

A couple decide to spice up their sex life with a threesome. Now where can they find the willing third?

Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival

Duration: 11:00

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PRINCESS X

Dir: Gabriel Abrantes
France/Portugal/UK – 2016

A supercharged history of sculptor Constantin Brancusi’s infamous “Princess X,” a futuristic bronze phallus that is actually a bust portrait of Napoleon’s equally infamous great grand niece, Marie Bonaparte.

Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival

Official Selection – Locarno Film Festival

Duration: 7:00

It just might be shorts weather again, so we’ll show you ours if you’ll show us yours! The Facebook RSVP is free, advance tickets are (still!) just $10, and door tickets are only $12. And why not bring a friend? 🙂

It’s time to announce the full program for our screening on Thursday April 11, 2013. We have scoured the world to bring you this selection of excellent short films from Canada, Sweden, Spain, Iceland, the UK, and the US. If you like what you see, why not save some money and get your advance tickets now?

TYPESETTER BLUES

Dir: Hector Herrera (Director will be in attendance for a Q&A)
Canada – 2012

Beastly Bards is a collection of animated shorts featuring loveable monsters. Each short is a distinct piece, written in rhyming verse and inspired by the poetic styles of Edward Lear, Shel Silverstein and Robert Service. The animation features clean lines with a textural mixed-media approach and incorporates a classic mid-century modern esthetic. The shorts are narrated by some of the best voices of the Canadian stage and screen: Gordon Pinsent, Jayne Eastwood, and Kenneth Welsh.

Typesetter Blues is the first “chapter” of Beastly Bards and debuted at TAAFI 2012. Set in a printshop, it is familiar story of heartbreak on the job, with a humorous spin. Narrated by Gordon Pinsent.

Official Selection – Toronto Animation Arts Festival International

Finalist – Adobe Design Achievement Awards (Animation)

Duration: 3:00

HALF-A-PANTALOON

Dir: Hector Herrera (Director will be in attendance for a Q&A)
Canada – 2012

Half-A-Pantaloon is the second “chapter” of Beastly Bards. In the style of a public service announcement, it warns the viewer of the perils of wearing shorts in professional situations. Even charming monsters can’t get away with sartorial blunders. Narrated by Jayne Eastwood.

Duration: 5:00

VOICE OVER

Dir: Martin Rosete
Spain – 2012

I-will-not-tell-you-whose voice leads us through three extreme situations that are actually the same… Will you survive?

From Luis Berdejo, the writer of REC and REC 3: Genesis comes this ten minute epic, which has screened at more than 80 film festivals around the world and picked up more than 30 awards.

Best of the Fest – New York City Shorts Festival

Audience Award – Couch Fest

Duration: 10:00

FRIEND OF FLIES

Dir: Emil Gustafsson Ryderup
Sweden – 2011

For want of friends, a little boy seeks fellowship among flies. Once he has gained their confidence, he finds himself in possession of endless power. But the power is not the solution to everything, and how is a child to master such responsibility? Using only three colours, black, white and red, Friend of Flies deploys a striking visual aesthetic to tell a melancholy tale about the loneliness of childhood.

Official Selection – Fantasia Film Festival

Official Selection – Chicago International Film Festival

Duration: 13:00

LAS PALMAS – AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER

Dir: Johannes Nyholm
Sweden – 2011

A middle-aged lady on a holiday in the sun tries to make new friends and have a good time. The role is played by a one year old girl (the director’s daugher Helmi), the rest of the cast are marionette puppets.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection – Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival

Duration: 13:00

DRAGON BABY

Dir: Patrick Boivin
Canada – 2012

In this Kill Bill-inspired short short, the filmmaker’s son Romeo takes on a stuffed dragon with some awesome kung-fu moves. This has been viewed more than 26 million times online, but don’t go looking for it yet. You want the big screen experience!

Duration: 1:00

BELLY

Dir: Julia Pott
UK – 2011

I can feel you in my Belly.

Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival

Official Selection – South by Southwest Film Festival

Official Selection – AFI Film Festival

Official Selection – Worldwide Short Film Festival

Canal+ Award – Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival

Duration: 8:00

THE PIRATE OF LOVE

Dir: Sara Gunnarsdóttir
Iceland – 2012

Daniel C, a truck driver, records an entire CD of ballads for Sherry. Can his music conquer his loneliness?

Official Selection – New Directors/New Films

Official Selection – AFI Film Festival

Official Selection – Telluride Film Festival

Duration: 10:00

PENNY DREADFUL

Dir: Shane Atkinson
USA – 2012

The story of a kidnapping gone horribly wrong.

Audience Award – Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival

Duration: 17:00

This will also be the first screening where we award one of our filmmakers with a $100 prize. Be there to have your vote count! Buy your tickets now!

Here it is, folks! The first of our specially designed posters. This one, announcing our April 11, 2013 screening, was designed by film writer Alex Kittle (she’s @filmforager on Twitter). In addition to writing about film, she also makes excellent movie posters which she sells on Etsy. Rumour has it that she might be selling a limited edition run of this poster, too, so don’t miss it!

In addition to confirming that our next screening will be held on Thursday April 11th at 7pm at the Carlton, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at a few of the films that we’ll be showing too. And just so you know, tickets are already on sale! Get yours!

For want of friends, a little boy seeks fellowship among flies. Once he has gained their confidence, he finds himself in possession of endless power. But the power is not the solution to everything, and how is a child to master such responsibility? Using only three colours, black, white and red, Friend of Flies deploys a striking visual aesthetic to tell a melancholy tale about the loneliness of childhood.

Typesetter Blues is a 3-minute animated short starring a likeable monster named Harold. In this melancholy love story, Harold falls for a new coworker, who unfortunately falls harder for someone else. Voiced by Canadian legend Gordon Pinsent (Away From Her, Pillars Of The Earth) Typesetter Blues is written in the nonsense poetry tradition of Edward Lear and Shel Silverstein.

We have lots more in store for this screening, which we’ll be revealing in the weeks to come. I hope you will join us!

I’m happy to share the full program for our January 13 screening with you today. We’ll be showing two NFB animated shorts before the Future Shorts pop up festival slate. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more information about each film individually, but for now, here’s the overview. If you like what you see, why not save $2 and get your advance tickets now?

CMYK

Dir: Marv Newland
Canada – 2011

CMYK is a dizzying celebration of sound, colour and movement. Director Marv Newland and animator Kunal Sen meticulously assembled multitudes of CMYK symbols, pulled off flaps of common printed materials like cereal boxes. Freed from their workaday origins, these objects become moving artwork. Coloured dots pulsate chaotically, crosshairs roll languidly and primary shapes dance compellingly, while the music by composer Lisa Miller and the Quatuor Bozzini quartet is equally spontaneous. The result: an unrestrained riot of colour and energy.

Duration: 7:13

WILD LIFE

Dir: Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby
Canada – 2011

In 1909, a dapper young remittance man is sent from England to Alberta to attempt ranching. However, his affection for badminton, bird watching and liquor leaves him little time for wrangling cattle. It soon becomes clear that nothing in his refined upbringing has prepared him for the harsh conditions of the New World. This animated short is about the beauty of the prairie, the pang of being homesick and the folly of living dangerously out of context.

Winner of Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation at International Animation Festival, Ottawa

Winner of Best Canadian Short at Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax

Duration: 13:30

THE EAGLEMAN STAG

Dir: Michael Please
United Kingdom – 2010

The Eagleman Stag is a unique 9-minute stop-motion animated film which depicts a man’s haunting obsession with the passage of time and his unorthodox relationship with a beetle. Directed by Michael Please, the production was a highly ambition final year film for Please while studying at the Royal College of Art – it is based on a story he previously wrote entitled “The Life and Time of Peter Eagleman.” Orchestral music was integral to this film and composed in tandem with the animation process.

Winner of Best Short Animation at BAFTA

Winner of Special Jury Prize at SXSW Film Festival

Duration: 08:55

GOD OF LOVE

Dir: Luke Matheny
United States – 2010

Matheny, who wrote, directed and starred in this 19-minute inventive comedy about love-inducing darts won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short in 2011. A recent film student graduate of New York University, Matheny produced God of Love as his thesis film project while enrolled in NYU’s MFA program. At the Oscars, he was hailed for one of the best acceptance speeches of the evening and thanked his mother for her contribution to the movie.

Oscar Winner in 2011 for Live Action Short Film

Duration: 18:38

DEEPER THAN YESTERDAY

Dir: Ariel Kleiman
Australia – 2010

Filmed on an old decommissioned military submarine with 35mm cameras, Deeper Than Yesterday tells the story of a Russian crew who suffer a rather savage form of cabin fever. Director Ariel Kleiman, a graduate of the VCA at the University of Melbourne, recently said, “the more uncomfortable I feel making a film, the better it will be.” Jurors have compared the film to “The Lower Depths,” Maxim Gorky’s best-known play – very Russian with long periods of isolation and madness.

Winner of International Short Filmmaking Award at Sundance Film Festival

Duration: 19:52

INCIDENT BY A BANK

Dir: Ruben Östlund
Sweden – 2009

A detailed and humorous account of a failed bank robbery: a single take where roughly 100 people meticulously recreate an actual event that took place in Stockholm in June 2006. Directed by Ruben Östlund, who witnessed these events first hand along with his producer Erik Hemmendorff while on the way to the Swedish Film Insititute. The film questions how robberies really happen, and what they might, or should, look like. “Making Incident by a Bank is a way to correct the false images of robberies we see almost daily in action movies made in Hollywood,” says Östlund.

Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale

Duration: 11:54

LUMINARIS

Dir: Juan Pablo Zaramella
Argentina – 2011

Inspired by the Argentinian instrumental tango piece entitled “Lluvia de Estrellas” (Star Rain), “Luminaris” tells the story of a man living in a world controlled and timed by light. Each day, inhabitants of this fictional world awake and are pulled, as if by some otherworldly force, to their jobs by sunlight. Combining pixilation and stop motion techniques, the surrealist short pairs styles reminiscent of art deco with black cinema. Zaramella explains, “Originally, I approached the project as a puppet animation story, but doing some pixilation tests in the gardens of Fontevraud, just for fun, the seed of the present short was born: the idea of sunlight as a magnetic force.”

Winner of Audience Award at Annecy International Animation Festival

Duration: 6:17

THE EXTERNAL WORLD

Dir: David O’Reilly
Germany/Ireland – 2010

A boy learns to play the piano in this rather dark but occasionally humorous meditation on the anxieties and fears of a modern civilized society. Created as a lo-fi animation, “The External World” is a surreal seventeen-minute collection of vignettes which borrows themes from pop culture, cinema and videogames – classic and contemporary. Some have heralded this short as “a unique reconstruction of the universe” while O’Reilly recently noted in an interview, “I like creating experimental films that have an emotional function.”

Winner of Best Animation Award at Tampere Film Festival

Duration: 16:56

We screen at the NFB Mediatheque (150 John Street) on Friday January 13, 2012 at 7pm. Grab your tickets now!